owlsbooks Chapter 2327
Chapter 2327
Chapter 2327
Athena's protection and support for her favorites demonstrate a touching intimacy; she is undoubtedly the best friend they could have. However, in other myths, we see another side of Athena: to the mortals she unfortunately considers enemies, she is a fierce and persistent perpetrator. This is easily overlooked, but the harm she inflicts on her enemies or those who displease her is exactly the same, and perhaps even more severe, than that inflicted on her favorites by some Greek gods.
Hera or Poseidon, who harmed Heracles or Odysseus, were a driving force in the heroic myth, ultimately constituting the trials required for the hero's achievements. However, those who displeased Athena did not give the hero the necessary opportunity to accomplish his deeds, and most of them ended in devastating failure.
Ajax the Great, once one of her favorites, ignored her when she appeared before him on the battlefield of Troy, refusing her offer of help. Ajax the Great declared that with his superior strength, he needed no assistance.
The poor heroes failed to grasp Athena's role as a divine benefactor; her intervention would enhance the achievements of her favorites, not diminish their heroic deeds. Athena's actions against Ajax the Great, stemming from her perceived "wound," were cruel and even shocking. On the battlefield of Troy, Achilles fell in battle, and Ajax the Great fought valiantly, repelling the Trojan warriors. Odysseus seized the opportunity to retrieve Achilles' body, and the two heroes then competed for Achilles' armor. Due to Odysseus's eloquence, the Greeks awarded the armor to him. Ajax the Great felt insulted and enraged. Athena, seizing the opportunity for revenge, drove him to a temporary loss of reason. In his madness, Ajax the Great charged into a herd of Greek livestock, slaughtering them, believing he was killing Odysseus and other Greeks. After calming down, Ajax the Great was filled with shame. In Sophocles' play *Ajax*, Ajax the Great tells himself, "For a noble man, the only choice is to live with dignity or to die with dignity," and he chooses the latter. Through Athena's intervention, he becomes a tragic and disillusioned figure, and his shame ultimately leads to his suicide.
Odysseus was capable of sympathizing with a fallen hero: "I sympathize with his misfortune, even though he is my enemy, for the terrible mental breakdown he has inflicted upon him." So when Agamemnon and Menelaus wanted to throw Ajax the Great's body out to be devoured by dogs and birds, Odysseus objected, arguing that people should not harm "the bravest man among those who came to Troy, besides Achilles."
In contrast, Athena appeared extremely cold and ruthless, saying, "Laugh at your enemies—is there any sweeter laughter than this?"
Thanks to Athena's help in building the Trojan Horse, the Greeks were able to conquer the city. However, during the sacking of the city, Ajax the Younger committed blasphemy, which led Athena to resolve to punish the Greeks as she had punished the Trojans.
According to the lost epic poem *The Sack of Troy*, Cassandra, the Trojan princess and priestess of Athena's temple, sought refuge there, as tradition dictated that those who took refuge in temples were protected by the gods. Ajax the Younger broke in, dragged her from under the Parthenon she was embracing, and raped her. Athena was appalled by this blasphemy and averted her gaze from the ensuing atrocity. The Greeks initially intended to stone Ajax the Younger, but he escaped by hiding under the Parthenon. Athena's anger stemmed not only from the blasphemy itself but also from the Greeks' failure to punish the blasphemer. Even when Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek coalition, made a final effort, "offering a hundred sacrifices to appease Athena's extreme rage," the result was still that "she would no longer listen to him." Athena's hatred replaced her protection; she not only withdrew her patronage but also actively plotted to destroy the Greek fleet as they returned home.
In Euripides' play *The Trojan Women*, Poseidon readily grants Athena's request. Athena tells Poseidon, "Zeus will send down torrents of rain, terrible hail, and black storms from the sky. He promises to lend me his thunderbolts to strike the Achaeans and set their ships ablaze. And you, all you must do is stir up huge waves and whirlpools in the Aegean Sea, and fill the vast Euphrates Bay with corpses. From then on, the Greeks will revere my altars and respect all other gods."
In the devastating storm at sea against the Greek fleet, Athena herself hurled Zeus's thunderbolts at Ajax the Younger's ships, causing them to sag and sink. But Ajax the Younger swam with all his might and safely climbed onto a protruding rock by the sea. Homer describes the final demise of the arrogant Ajax the Younger, saying that he secretly rejoiced, boasting of his escape from calamity, and that even the will of the gods could not harm him. Poseidon raised his trident and cleaved the sea rock in two; Ajax the Younger, along with the rubble, plunged into the bottomless sea, this time never to rise again.
In a fit of rage, Athena destroyed the victorious Greek fleet, but the Trojans, the Greeks' adversaries, fared even worse; their nation was destroyed because of Athena's will.
In a sense, the story of Troy is the story of a city that fell out of favor under Athena's protection. Troy, with its formidable walls built with the help of the gods and the famous Paladinum, was under Athena's special protection and should have been invincible. However, in the Judgment of Paris, Athena lost to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the "intolerant of defeat" goddess came to hate the entire Trojan people. During the Greek conquest of Troy, Athena, as Troy's patron goddess, not only failed to fulfill her duties but actively contributed to Troy's destruction. The poor Trojans, however, were unaware that they had been abandoned by their goddess. In Book VI of the Iliad, when Diomedes, with Athena's help, swept across the battlefield, killing countless Trojan warriors, Trojan women came to Athena's temple seeking protection, pleading with her to stop Diomedes. Homer recorded Athena's refusal of prayer in a single sentence: "So she opened her mouth to pray, but Pallas Athena turned her head away." The Trojans pleaded with Athena strictly according to the requirements of Greek religious practice. However, this time Athena refused to play by the rules, "turning her head away" instead of granting her help to the devout believer. When her favorites asked for her help, she was always "the goddess present," and her intervention facilitated their success. But she could also refuse a request, even one made by the Trojans in a suitable sacrificial location and by a dedicated priestess. This reveals another side of the "goddess present" who is affectionate towards her favorites; to those she dislikes, she is also a difficult god to appease.
The Homeric hymns describe her as having "a cold heart," indicating that the Greeks were aware of her ruthless nature. Athena's cruelty was fully revealed when she ruthlessly sought to kill Hector.
Achilles versus Hector, the greatest hero of the Greek coalition versus the greatest hero and commander of the Trojans, their duel taking place in Book XXII of the Iliad. Hector, no match for Achilles, fled around the city walls, with Achilles in hot pursuit. Athena told Achilles not to chase, then appeared before Hector disguised as his brother Deippos, urging him to turn and fight Achilles. Encouraged by his brother's words, Hector mustered his courage, stopped fleeing, and turned to meet the enemy. The duel resumed, and when Hector asked Deippos for a spear, he discovered his beloved brother was not present; he was fighting alone. Facing certain death, he realized he had been deceived by Athena. Homer describes it thus: He raised his voice and called out to Deippos, the man with the white shield, asking for a spear, but Deippos was not beside him. Hector understood the truth and cried out, "It's over! The gods have finally summoned me to my death here. I thought the hero Deiphos was by my side, but he stayed in the city. Athena deceived me, and now evil death is near."
Athena, as the embodiment of wisdom, even resorted to deceiving mortals to help her beloved son win. This case illustrates that the wisdom the Greeks spoke of was actually a kind of "cunning," not necessarily containing any moral value. Explained using the theories of Max Weber, one of the three great sociologists of the modern world, Athena in this event embodied cold, hard "instrumental rationality." That is, Athena chose the means most effective in achieving her goal, regardless of whether those means conformed to moral values. Hector's death typifies the two opposing yet unified aspects of Athena's character: she was fiercely protective of her beloved son, willing to use any means to safeguard him, yet ruthless and merciless towards her enemies. This is a typical example of the Greek value of "helping friends and harming enemies." Athena is the best friend a hero can have; she stands on the side of a group of heroes, intervening in the course of events to help their various efforts succeed. However, the heroes still have to exert arduous effort to achieve their goals. Athena's help was far from diminishing their heroic deeds as Ajax the Great feared; rather, she inspired them and provided a divine dimension to their success by creating conditions that enabled them to exert their strength and wisdom as heroes.
Even with this kind of purity, Athena is already a rare gem in the pantheon.
And what about Thor?
To put it simply, when Gell first learned the complete information about Thor, he refused to believe that he was also a god... because he was a completely different species from the gods that Gell knew!
This was true both before and after learning the truth about the gods.
Thor is less of a god and more of a powerful mortal, and a good one at that!
So actually, Gore's malice towards Thor was never that great.
This can be seen from the fact that Gale kidnapped Thor instead of killing him, which is also related to his desire to find Asgard through Thor!
But now, Thor has actually teamed up with that bastard Zeus.
He wouldn't mistake the golden lightning in Thor's hand!
This thing is Zeus's signature artifact!
"I'm just borrowing it for a bit," Thor said with a hint of pride, holding the Thunderbolt.
This thing is really useful. Of course, Thor rarely takes it out because... Mjolnir gets jealous!
That's right, Mjolnir has finally returned to Thor's hands, but it's becoming increasingly irritable and hostile towards Thor's other weapons, including Spear of Eternity.
Therefore, Thor often only carries Mjolnir.
The last war at the Earth's core was just like that.
This time... Thor realized things were serious and pleaded with Mjolnir for a long time before being allowed to bring 'Thunder' out.
"My relationship with it (Thunder) was just a fling. The one I truly love has always been you. Look, during the time you were gone, I didn't look for any other weapon; I remained celibate to you… What? You mean the Eternal Spear! Sigh, that's a bit much. The Eternal Spear is Dad's weapon, or, according to the backup plan, my stepmother, my aunt! How could I possibly have any illicit relationship with it? I've always only had you."
"Hey, hey, I'm not blaming you for having a previous owner... really, darling, you have to believe me! Everyone has a youthful phase, right? Back then, I didn't know you, you didn't belong to me. We were still just strangers, walking through streets that were gradually becoming familiar... cough cough, I'm getting carried away. Anyway, it wasn't your fault, it was the fault of the times. I only blame myself for being born too late, and you for being born too early. That old Odin, really, why didn't he have me sooner? It's made you end up with that scumbag Hela... I'm so sorry you had to suffer!"
"Believe me, Thunder and I are just putting on an act. It's that fat Zeus's weapon. We're only cooperating to deal with that madman, Gael. There's absolutely nothing else going on! You have to believe me!"
"No, no! Although I'm Thor now, the happiest time of my life was when I was the hammer god. We were so innocent back then! Carefree all the time, I really didn't care about being Thor. I truly regret being Thor now!"
Such obsessive and delusional behavior once led others to believe that their prince had lost his mind.